"Low salaries make many bright people decide to leave research because the joy of discovering something new is simply not worth it when you face problems like having a family and paying a mortgage." --Petr Svoboda, Institute of Molecular Genetics, Prague, Czech Republic

"The priority for most researchers is an independent career in research. For me, the next step is either another postdoc or getting my own funding. But if the funding doesn't come through, I'll probably quit." --John Bothwell